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Butyl glycol isomers
Is 2-butoxyethanol and 1,3 butylene glycol the same compound? When 2-butoxyethanol is produced, are a range of isomers produced, e.g. 1,4 butanediol, or do the isomers have to be produced via different pathways?
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6 Replies
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These are two different chemicals, one is also known as ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (the correct chemical name would be 2-butoxyethan-1-ol but because it’s isomer 2-butoxyethan-2-ol isn’t stable, nobody uses the “-1-“) and the other ones correct name is 1,3-botanediol (it’s by definition not a glycol).The former is produced by treating butanol with ethylene oxide, a straight forward synthesis without isomer formation. The latter may be produced by different synthetic routes which may or may not result in by-product/isomer formation.BTW “pathway” is a term preferably used in biology/biosynthesis, not chemical synthesis i.e. metabolic pathways which most often don’t result in mixtures of structural isomers
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Cheeky fact for me there haha. Which one is preferable for use in skincare?
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You can probably tell which one is the best by reading a suppliers list, one of those will come up all the time.
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Uppps, I just realised that I wrote 1,3-botanediol instead of 1,3-butanediol ;( .I wouldn’t use either of the two.1,3-butanediol might work as nutrient supplement and sure, it does what similar compounds do but I’d rather go with one which also boosts preservation such as 1,2-penatanediol or similar real glycols.2-Butoxyethanol is not the most safe substance, has detergent properties but mostly serves as solvent or co-solvent and isn’t used for any skin care effects.
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Very useful clarification. I agree on use of a glycol to boost preservation. I think I will go for pentanediol or hexyl glycol.
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Propane diol 1,3 is popular
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